Thursday, February 18, 2010

2 Toots

Alright, finally! The post you've all been waiting for! I've been so excited to blog about this little adventure but have had a hard time finding the time to do it. But finally, here I am, so here goes-

After all of the Christmas festivities ended in IL we took an afternoon with Grandma Bonnie and Grandpa Steve and headed to a cute little diner called 2 Toots. We arrived, and Owen thought he died and went to train heaven :) This adorable diner has a few booths and counter seating and has pictures and posters of trains adorning every wall; but the kicker is that all of the wonderful diner food is delivered in baskets by a model train! Owen was fascinated each and every time the train tooted by him and was beside himself when it stopped in front of him to deliver a hot dog and fries! (I'm tellin' ya, train heaven!) And if this wasn't proof enough that this place was made for children, I knew it for sure when I heard a waitress call back to one of the cooks "Hey so-and-so, I'm going to need the crust cut off of that peanut butter and jelly!" Awesome!

There was quite a line when we first arrived but it moved fairly swiftly and Owen had no problem enjoying the view atop a coin operated horse.

Note the flat screen tv- there were several in the diner an each was playing a train movie- The Polar Express, Thomas The Tank Engine, etc



He would not take his eye off the train long enough for a photo op :)


Waiting so patiently for his food. Oh, and if you want a kid to behave in a restaurant, I recommend taking them to one that delivers the food by locomotive.

And if you ordered dessert, they tooted the train whistle for you and you got your very own train whistle souvenir...how could we pass that up?


They said fun for the whole family, and clearly they weren't kidding. We can't wait to go back, and maybe take the train there this time!

Friday, February 5, 2010

Pardon the interruption

We interrupt this regularly scheduled blogging to bring you a funny Owen story that happened during the previous blogging session.

As I was adding pictures to the blog Owen climbed up on my lap and started talking about the pictures. We came upon one where he was with his Great Grandparents and he pointed to it and said "Look, its Owen" and I said, "yes, what is Owen doing?" He thought for a second then he said "Grandpa...ummm...Grandpa...what kind of Grandpa is that mama?" HAHAHA! What a lucky kid to have so many Grandparents and Great-Grandparents that its hard to keep them straight!

Christmas in IL w/ The McGinnis'

And the fun continued! We enjoyed a new Christmas Eve tradition of having a beautiful dinner with the immediate McGinnis clan, and are looking forward to it already for next year! Owen loved playing the drums with Grandpa Bill and after being left alone with the Grandparents for just a few short hours, we came in to find the family room covered in blankets and Owen playing with Grandpa in fort that spanned practically the whole house :)

Here are a few of the highlights-

The tree-pre Christmas morning

And the stockings were hung by the chimney with care

A perfect Christmas scene

The beautiful Christmas Eve table

YUM!

Another new Christmas Eve tradition-homemade Irish Cream! Yum!

Donnas dangerous "Motivated" Egg Nog

Awe, hangin' with Uncle Scotty

Playing the drums with Grandpa Bill

Christmas in IL w/ The Sieberts

Wow, February is already and here I am just catching up on my Christmas blogs! Sorry for the delay, but this was too fun to not blog about!

We spent an awesome 10 days in IL for Christmas-2009 spending time with all of the people we love the most. Owen had a blast with his Grandmas and Grandpas, Aunts and Uncles and experiencing lots of new things. As you saw in the last blog, he went sledding for the first time and clearly is not phased by cold and snow. He helped decorate Christmas cookies for the first time this year, he put out cookies and milk for Santa and a carrot for Rudolph, and got to go to an awesome train diner which I feel deserves its own blog after I am done with the Christmas ones :)

I think this story is best told through pictures, so here we go-

Owen & Auntie Laurie make Christmas cookies...

She shows him how to use a cookie press...

Uncle Brad joins in the decorating fun...

"Sprinkle, sprinkle, sprinkle..."

"YUM!"

The prettiest ones were for Santa ;)

Don't forget a carrot for Rudolph!

Christmas Morning we discover Santa came-errr, mommy discovers it...

When I asked Owen if Santa had come, he said "Nope!"...so we went in search of more convincing evidence...

Ah-Ha! He did come! And Owen makes a beeline straight for the goods...

That's a nice pile kid!

Owen & Uncle Brad eating hummus

Owen & Uncle Jason

Brad, Laurie, Jason, Me, Robert

The Fam

Owen w/Grandma Sylvia and Papa Bob (1 of his 3 Grandpa Bobs!)